Geffen Playhouse Unscripted

Geffen Playhouse has become a world-renowned hub for theater and culture. Now, through its new podcast, "Geffen Playhouse Unscripted," listeners from around the world will enjoy exclusive, behind-the-scenes audio tours not only of the Geffen's widely-acclaimed productions, but also hear conversations with some of today's most compelling creative voices. Hosted by former Newsweek and Los Angeles Times journalist and KPCC radio host John Horn, the series will primarily be composed of unscripted interviews that explore the art and craft of live storytelling, the creative process, professional milestones, personal challenges, timely topics and more. Drawn from the Geffen's deep community of artists, guests will be prominent personalities, including The Office's Rainn Wilson, Transparent's Jeffrey Tambor, actress and music artist Rita Wilson, Two Broke Girls' Beth Behrs, This is Us' Ron Cephas Jones, director and producer Jon Favreau and more.

LATEST EPISODE

Actor Tituss Burgess joins new Unscripted host Daniel Beaty to talk about his love of cooking, the challenge of working with an impatient world, being in couple's therapy with the theater, landing a part on 30 Rock when he was facing eviction, and making a promise with God that later turned into landing "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt."

Past Episodes

Actor, writer, singer, activist (and your next Unscripted host!) Daniel Beaty joins John to talk about selling only one ticket to a show, moving an audience mentally and emotionally, giving a voice to the voiceless, his non-profit "I Dream", and working hard to see a diverse America represented in art. You can find Daniel on instagram @danielbbeaty.

Charlize Theron and House of Mandela Family Foundation Co-Founder Kweku Mandela talk with guest host Soledad O'Brien to kick off a yearlong series of events in honor of Nelson Mandela. They discuss #MeToo, equal pay in Hollywood, the importance of millennials in the future, and that 2018 will be a year of love and not division.

Actress Saffron Burrows comes straight from rehearsal to join John and discuss her new one woman play, "Jackie Unveiled", what a wonderful challenge it is, how to discover new challenges, and understanding that the joy of acting isn't just portraying devastation.

Actor Judd Hirsch joins John to talk about his long acting career, the hilarious limits of working on TV in the 70's, doing voiceover, acting as living truthfully and not lying, not being right for anything but acting, going from Broadway to England, and working consistently for 56 years.

Actress Marin Ireland sits down with John to talk about her current play at the Geffen, "Ironbound", developing HR for the Arts to help deal with harassment in the industry, misrepresentation in entertainment, and the feeling of coming in to save a show at the last minute.

Actor Harry Lennix joins John to talk about meeting his wife during his critically acclaimed Broadway debut, directing for the theater, the relevance of black playwrights today, the importance of agitating the status quo, and his exciting upcoming projects.

Hulu's "The Path" creator and showrunner Jessica Goldberg joins John to talk about what life is like as a writer, her beginnings as a playwright, seeing her first Broadway play, the writers that have influenced her, and how her show has affected its real-life viewers.